PRT convention launches Rosario Ibarra for president

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.. Mexican elections SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 1987 9 MEXICO CITY-The Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT), Mexican section of the Fourth International, held its Fifth National Convention here from July 25 to Aug. 2, 1987.

The main public rally took place on July 26. The remaining seven days were devoted to an internal discussion of the Mexican political situation and of the party-building tasks of the PRT.

The PRT credentials committee reported that 345 convention delegates were elected in 84 party units throughout the country, representing a total of 3438 members.

Convention public rally

The opening rally of the PRT convention reflected the deep roots the PRT has been able to establish in the mass movements during its 10-year existence.

Nearly 4000 people-mainly PRT members and their supporters from around the country-crowded into the largest auditorium of the Centro Médico to hear a (continued from page 8) their quest for an alliance with the Democratic Current of the PRI. (Castillo, in fact, had called on the Democratic Current to join their new party.)

Federation of left parties On July 22, 1987, the PRT joined with seven other "revolutionary left" organizations to form an electoral coalition for the 1988 elections: the Federation of Parties of the Revolutionary Left. [See article on PRT convention.] At a press conference, Federation leaders announced that Rosario Ibarra, a well-known human rights activist, would be their 1988 presidential candidate. They also said that while they "did not discard the possibility of an electoral alliance with the four-hour rally.

PRT peasant delegations came by buses and trucks from as far north as Sonora and as far south as Chiapas just for this event. As they entered the auditorium, they were loudly cheered with deafening chants of "PRT, PRT, PRT!"

Regional trade-union, slumdweller, women's, and student delegations were also greeted with loud applause and cheers.

Speakers at the rally included two of the five elected PRT deputies; Rosario Ibarra, the well-known human-rights activist who was the PRT presidential candidate in 1982; and leaders of other left political parties with which the PRT had just recently formed a "Federation of Parties of the Revolutionary Left." Miguel Romero, a representative of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, also spoke.

The Federation of Parties of the Revolutionary Left was formed on July 22. It is an electoral bloc of seven parties that agreed to run Rosario Ibarra for president under the electoral emblem of "Unidad But prospects for a united electoral coalition appear quite remote.

In the days following the PRT convention rally, PMS leaders issued statements which seemed to rule out any coalition with the PRT and appeared aimed at putting the onus for a divided left on the PRT.

Pablo Gómez, ex-secretary general of the Stalinist PSUM and a major leader of the PMS, wrote the following in the July 30 La Jornada:

"Our proposal for organic unity has now been rejected by the PRT... The response of the PRT was the creation of their own electoral coalition, which is based on their very dubious notion that in Mexico there Popular" —or Popular Unity.

The Federation program states that "participation in the elections should not be seen as a means to attain political power, but rather as a vehicle to strengthen the mass movements. The only road to power is through the direct revolutionary action of the toilers."

Rosario Ibarra speaks

In her speech to the rally, "Rosario"-as she is commonly known throughout Mexico-strongly condemned the austerity measures and the repression foisted on the Mexican people by the government of Miguel de la Madrid.

She described the July 24, 1987, demonstration of 20,000 "damnificados"— victims of the 1985 earthquake—whose demands for decent shelter have still not been met.

Rosario, who headed the demonstration, said that "the earthquake victims-together with all the victims of this oppressive system-need an electoral coalition that will serve as a vehicle to strengthen the mass movements and to make the voices of are two poles of the left.

"According to the PRT, there is a 'revolutionary' pole organized around the PRT and a 'reformist' pole organized around the PMS. This way of thinking is sectarian-pure and simple."

The PRT's rejection of a fused "left" party that would include major sectors of the capitalist class (the Democratic Current) is anything but sectarian. Nor was it sectarian for the PRT to be on the side of the UNAM students and the SME strikers. The PMS leadership was on the opposite side of the barricades.

The Rosario Ibarra presidential campaign will not be chasing after a wing of the capitalist class for support. It has set itself the task of "stimulating the independent activity and organization of the Mexican masses."

The Rosario Ibarra presidential campaign is sure to win a tremendous hearing from the workers and peasants of Mexico.

In his keynote speech to the convention's inaugural rally, Edgar Sánchez, a member of the PRT's Political Committee, outlined the PRT's election strategy:

"We have insisted on the need for a total electoral coalition between the two left parties with legal ballot status [the PRT and the PMS] which could serve as the basis for an alliance of all the left parties, including those without legal ballot status.

"But in view of the fact that an electoral coalition of all the left parties has not been possible up to this point, the PRT could not wait any longer to put forward its own election campaign and strategy.

"This is why we helped put together the Federation of Parties of the Revolutionary Left. And this is why we have proposed to all the left-and to this convention-that we run compañera Rosario Ibarra for president of Mexico in the 1988 elections.

"Our overall objective in these elections is to stimulate the independent activity and organization of the masses and in this manner build the party as a necessary instrument to advance our revolutionary goals.

"The PRT is not willing to change its political objectives for a plate of lentils. It is not willing to dissolve itself [into a fusion with the PMS] for a mere electoral agreement."

After many days of serious-often sharp —political discussion, a large majority of the delegates at the PRT convention voted to endorse the orientation proposed by Edgard Sánchez in his rally speech:

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PMS," they did not consider such alliance to be "indispensable.